Since 1890, there have been fewer than 50 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California, and of those, only six have been fatal, officials said.
In a rare attack against humans, a mountain lion killed a man and injured his brother while the men were in a remote area of Northern California on Saturday, the authorities said.
The brothers, 18 and 21, were in Georgetown, Calif., when the mountain lion attacked, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
At about 1:13 p.m. on Saturday, the younger brother called 911 to report that the two had been attacked in Georgetown, about 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, and that he had been separated from his brother.
The caller told the authorities that he had “suffered traumatic injuries to his face” during the attack, according to the statement.
Deputies and paramedics arrived and helped the younger brother. Deputies then began searching and found the mountain lion crouched next to the older brother, officials said.
“The mountain lion was between the deputies and the subject on the ground,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies fired shots to scare off the animal so they could help the older brother. “Unfortunately, the male subject was deceased,” the statement said.
The victims’ names were not released. The surviving brother has undergone multiple surgeries for his injuries and was expected to make a full recovery, according to Sgt. Kyle Parker of the Sheriff’s Office, who cited a family spokesman.
Sgt. Parker said that, at the time of the attack, the brothers were searching for antlers that had been shed.
Wardens and trappers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a trapper for El Dorado County responded and found the mountain lion, the sheriff’s office said.
The mountain lion was euthanized near the scene of the attack, according to the department, which noted that its remains were sent to a forensics laboratory to obtain DNA and assess its general health.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare, according to the department.
Since 1890, there have been fewer than 50 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California, and of those, only six have been fatal, the department said.
The last fatal encounter that a human had with a mountain lion in California was in 2004 in Orange County. In most cases, the victim was alone when the attack occurred, according to the department.
The mountain lion is known by more than 40 different common names, including puma, cougar, panther, red tiger, catamount and screamer, according to the state agency.
They live in diverse habitats across California, including the temperate redwood forest, foothills and mountains.
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